


It's required, to be gay together

by Sunyiu2



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Homophobia, M/M, Protective Lestrade, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10099583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunyiu2/pseuds/Sunyiu2
Summary: Everyone got their soulmate’s name on their wrist at six. You wake up on your sixth birthday and the name of your soulmate is there.Gregory Lestrade and Mycroft Holmes were not exceptions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to EbonyKnight, my beta! Thank you my dear! :D
> 
> Every comments and kudos is welcolmed

Everyone got their soulmate’s name on their wrist at six. You wake up on your sixth birthday and the name of your soulmate is there.

Gregory Lestrade was not an exception. He was gutted when he saw the name on the morning of his sixth birthday. He carefully left his bedroom and slowly approached his mother in the kitchen.

“Mum?”

“Greg, happy birthday!”

“Mom, where is Dad?”

“He will be back shortly, just went to the shop. Why?” Greg stood in front of his mother and showed her his wrist “Oh, Greg! It’s wonderful, you got your soulmate name.”

“Yeah, but it’s a boy’s name”

“I know, sorry, honey. But he is your soulmate and Mycroft is a beautiful name. You will find him and it will be alright.”

“But Dad…”

“I know, honey, but you have to trust your bond. No matter what you father will say, it is a gift. The biggest gift your life could give to you. You and your soulmate are perfect for each other. You complete each other. Do not listen to anybody who says otherwise.”

“Thank you, Mum. I love you,” Greg hugged his mother, his heart lighter as the relief spread in through his body

“I love you too.” Suzanne Lestrade kissed his head before he patted his backside “Now go get changed.”

“Okay.”

 

Two hours later Greg and his mum were sat in a hospital waiting for someone to cast Greg’s wrist. He spent his birthday party and the next month in cast. Everyone felt sorry for him when they heard the story; that he had fallen down the stairs in his own excitement in the morning of his sixth birthday.

 

When Greg was eight his mother had died in a car crash and he started to wear his wristband more often. At ten he constantly wore it to cover the name of his soulmate. Everyone remembered when he was six he got a cast on his hand it was so memorable, he had landed hard on his face and it was full of bruises. The curse of little towns.

 

 

& & @ & &

 

Mycroft Holmes woke up the day of his sixth birthday and he glanced at his wrist, carefully touching the name Gregory. Not as common as Mary or John, he smiled himself as he caressed the letters. Gregory: it had a Greek origin, meaning vigilant, watchful; smiled he quite liked it.

He had known it would be a boy’s name since he had been three. His mother explained him that everybody has a soulmate. As he grew up he read every book and study on this subject; after all, Gregory was a popular name, therefore every little thing would help to find him.

 

Mycroft was seven when his brother was born. Little Sherlock was an adorable and joyous boy and Mycroft knew that his life changed the moment he saw him for the first time. He promised to himself that he would be the best big brother in the world. On Sherlock’s sixth birthday he almost laughed out loud as he saw his brother’s wrist; John even more common than Gregory. His mother laughed a bit as she saw it. She found the fact that her two uniquely named boys would have soulmates with two of the commonest names hilarious.

When Mycroft was fifteen they moved to a small town. His classmates were one year older then him. One of his classmate was a boy named Gregory and he was wonderful. 

 

& & @ & &

 

When Greg was sixteen the Holmes family moved into town. The older brother was Mycroft and he was gorgeous, with red hair, freckles and long legs, everything that Greg loved. Yeah, Mycroft was Greg’s living fantasy. And his soulmate. He stared Mycroft sometimes, imagined talking to him about the name on his wrist, but he couldn’t do that to him. Not now, no, he had to be careful.

 

And he successfully avoided Mycroft for almost two months but it changed when they were paired for a school project.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, life happens...
> 
> Thanks again EbonyKnight for doing a bloody good job as a beta, you are a star, my dear! :) xx
> 
> I'll update the last part on Sunday ;)

They were chosen to work with together in Geography. Mycroft watched Gregory when the teacher listed the pairings. He knew he would be Gregory’s partner; he had seen the paper when had walked into the classroom. Mycroft saw Gregory’s eyes widen and his cheeks flushed red. Mycroft looked him in the eye but Gregory glanced away, turning his attention to the desktop and fidgeting with his wristband whilst taking a couple of deep breaths and appearing much like he was trying to calm down. Mycroft had never seen anything like that; it seemed that he was afraid of something, but Mycroft knew that it was not him.

 

& & @ & &

 

This kind of joint project took time and it was best to do it during the weekend at one of their homes. Greg could not let it happen. He would have to talk to Mrs. Williams after the class and ask to change his partner. Partner… it would be nice to work with Mycroft, but… just. No, he should not have thought of that. He has to maintain the distance for both of their sakes.

Greg hurried to the teacher before everybody had left the classroom.

“Can I have somebody else as my partner, please, Mrs Williams?”

“Why? Mycroft is the best student in the class, even more, the best in the school.”

“I know that, Mrs. Williams, but I can’t work with him.”

“Why not?”

“I... I just can’t.”

“Alright, but it is the last example for this. Clear?”

“Yes, Mrs. Williams. Thank you!”

“Holmes, please stay here. And, McCormack, and your partner too.”

They looked at each other and went to the desk curiously. They waited for the others to leave the room. Greg did not look up, just stared at his shoes.

“McCormack, could you work with Holmes?”

“Yes, Mrs. Williams. Why?”

“Thank you. Lestrade, Jones, you two will good to work together too?”

“Yes,” they said in union

“That’s settled then. Go, it’s Friday: I’m sure you have things to do.”

The four boys left the classroom; Greg almost ran out of the school after a quick thanks to them. He did not want to go home; he needed to clear his head and think, so he went to the park and sat on a bench.

 

& & @ & &

 

Mycroft was hurt. Gregory Lestrade was the first Gregory who was not dull. He was intelligent, kind, even if the recent events suggested otherwise. Mycroft knew he had to have had a really good reason why he had acted like that at school. He pondered it over as he walked through the park to home. Lestrade was friendly with everyone, well everyone except for Mycroft. He made friends easily. He was rough around the edges, he got he even owned a motor bike and leather jacket, but he was not a bad boy. He was on his second round of the park when he noticed the lone figure on one of the benches. The exact same person he had spent the last hour thinking about. He had to talk to him, he had to know why Gregory had reacted the way he had.

“Hello, Gregory, can I talk to you?”

“I’m sorry, Mycroft, I really am. I’m not… sorry, go on.”

“I just wanted to know why are you didn’t want to work with me?”

“I really sorry, Mycroft, but it would be the best if we don’t work together. Please, it’s... I’m not. Sorry but I have to go now.”

Mycroft had noticed that Gregory had been fidgeting with his wristband for the whole time they had been talking. Mycroft watched as Gregory left in a hurry and noticed he had left his leather jacket on the bench. He knew where Gregory lived, so it was a logical step for him to decide to take it over, and he hoped that they would be able to talk some more, too. It was not a long walk, and he reached the Lestrade home in a few minutes. Mycroft walked to the door and rang the bell. When Gregory’s father opened the door; the smell of alcohol on his breath was so strong that he forgot what he wanted to say for a few seconds, but recovered quickly.

“Good afternoon, sir, my name is Myc…”

“Michael, hello.” Greg rushed to the door and rounded his father so he was between Mycroft and him. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Gregory. You left your jacket at the…”

“The classroom, yeah. Thank you, Michael.” Greg grabbed the jacket that Mycroft held out for him. “I was wondering where I left it.”

“I...” he saw that Gregory was looking at him with pleading eyes, so he finished lamely “That’s nothing. I have to meet my mom at the park nearby anyways. Your home was in the way.”

“Well thanks again, Michael.”

“Good afternoon, Gregory, Mr. Lestrade.”

The door was closed before he had had time to move away from it. He heard Gregory’s father shouting at him as he walked away.

“Who was he?”

“Just a classmate. I left my jacket at the school. You stood there and heard with your own ears. He was just kind to bring it here.”

“Do not talk to me like that, boy.”

Mycroft quickened his steps because he did not want to hear the rest of the argument.

 

The next day, the leather band on Greg’s hand had been replaced by a wrist brace. Mycroft felt awful about it: he knew it was his fault. At the lunch break he went and sat with Greg to apologise

“I am sorry, Gregory.”

“What? Why?”

“Your wrist. It’s my fault that…”

“What? No! I wear it every so often since I broke my wrist as a kid.”

“Really?”

“Yeah I… fell down the stairs in our house on my birthday. I was so excited I didn’t look and I landed on my face and wrist. It was broken and it still hurts once in a while so I put the brace or a wrist band if not so bad.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. So don’t worry.” Before Mycroft could say anything else Greg had stood up and left.

 

& & @ & &

 

Mycroft and Sherlock went to the bookshop to check whether the three books Sherlock had ordered earlier in the month had arrived. They had not, but Mycroft had no intention of indulging his brother’s demands that he still buy him three books. They left the bookshop after the owner promised them the books would arrive in the next week at latest.

“But it’s not fair, Mycroft,” Sherlock shouted as Mycroft led him to their car

“I know, little brother, but we can’t do anything about it. The shouting won’t help either,” he answered whilst he looked around, spotting Greg and his father across the road. He tensed up at the expression on Peter Lestrade’s face. Sherlock took a deep breath to say something but Mycroft squeezed his shoulder and whispered, “In the car. We can discuss it, Sherlock, but not here, please,”

“Okay.” once in the car Sherlock asked in wary voice, “Did you see the look on that man’s face, My? It was really scary.”

“Yes, I saw, Sherlock.”

“Who was that boy? Do you know him?”

“His name is Gregory, Sherlock, Gregory Lestrade. He is one of my classmates.”

“Gregory?”

“Yes.”

“But the expression on his father’s face was…”

“It is not our business, brother.”

“But he is going to hurt him.”

“Not necessarily, Sherlock.”

“You didn’t believe in that either, Mycroft.”

“No I’m not, but I hope.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's not the last chapter :)   
> I know I said it would be, but I have an idea for better endig, so I cut the epilogue down and it will be a new chapter on it own, not just a part of the third. Hopefuly will be up next Sunday.
> 
> Huge thanks again to EbonyKnight for betaing ;)

Greg stood in front of a lovely house. His face was bloodied from his nose and split eyebrow, and he held one arm to his chest with the other. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He waited for a few minutes and then he knocked again, a bit firmer this time. The house was lit up and a man opened the door.

“Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Holmes but my name is Greg and I… can I talk to Mycroft, please?”

“Gregory?”

“Yes, Sir. Greg, Gregory Lestrade. Mycroft is my classmate and I…”

“Gregory? What the hell happened to you?” Mycroft come down the stairs and hurried towards the door as he recognised Greg’s voice.

“My father heard your real name, and he…”

“Your father did this to you?”

“Yeah.”

“Come in, son. We will call you an ambulance: you need to go to a hospital.” Mr. Holmes opened the door further and stepped back so Greg could walk in.

“No I can’t… please… he…”

“It will be alright, he won’t hurt you anymore, I promise, and that arm has to be examined.”

“I…”

“Come in, Gregory, you are safe now.”

“Mycroft… I…”

Greg still hesitated, so Mycroft walked to him and with a hand on his shoulder led him in the living room. “It’s okay. Come, the living room has a really comfortable couch.”

“Alright.”

They sat down and Mr. Holmes handed a blanket over his son and went to wake his wife and call the ambulance.

“Here, let me put this around you. You must be freezing. Did you walk here?” asked Mycroft as he wrapped Gregory up in the blanket

“Yeah, I… I managed to punch him after a while and he lost his footings so I took off. I hid a bit just in case, and when it got dark I came over. I… I’m sorry, Mycroft, I didn’t want him to know your name. I tried to…”

“Wait, you didn’t want him to know… You... the name... It’s my name? You really are my soulmate?”

“Yeah but I... He’d just hurt you so I’m not… You had to be Michael to him so he couldn’t… but today in the town he heard and I just…  it is just.... Fucking hell... Sorry.”

“It is perfectly alright. I understand.” Mycroft sat down next to him and ran his hand in circles on his back to comfort him.

“I would have told you eventually, but I…”

“Shh, Gregory, it’s alright.” He hugged Greg close to him carefully and just let him cry a bit on his shoulder “You didn’t fall down the stairs when you were six, did you?”

“No. He saw a boy’s name on my wrist. He gra… he grabbed my wrist, grabbed your name and hit me several times. His grip was so tight when he finished the beating it was broken.”

“And you told everyone that you fell in your excitement.”

“Yeah, my mom, she was great. She died two years later but she was proud when I showed her my wrist that morning. She was with me in the hospital and we figured it out together, what we would tell everybody. It is a small town after all.”

“I’m sorry, Gregory.”

“Not your fault; he is just a homophobic moron.”

 

Mycroft held him until his father came back in, with normal clothes ready to go. “The ambulance will be here shortly. Mycroft, go and change. Your mother will be down shortly with Sherlock and I’ll stay with Gregory while you change.”

“But I…”

“Go, Mycroft, I will be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. Your family seems nice, nothing like mine.”

“All right, I’ll be quick.”

“Okay.”

Mycroft stood up adjusted the blanket around Greg and went to change. Mr. Holmes sat in his armchair looking at Greg with soft eyes and a sad smile on his face.

“My name is Siger Holmes, my wife is Violet.” As if on cue she walked into the room with a sleepy Sherlock.

“I’m so sorry to wake up all of you. But I really had no place to go.”

“Don’t be silly, love, you came the right place,” Violet answered calmly as she walked to the window to wait for the ambulance.

Sherlock stood in front of him, eyes sharp despite his sleepiness.

“Hello, you must be Sherlock.”

Sherlock looked at him up and down: the only visible parts of him were his face and his shoes.

“Mycroft wrapped you up.”

“Yeah, but it’s warm, if a bit too tight, but feels good.”

“Are you cold?”

“Was, it’s better now.”

“Okay.”

“Sorry to wake you up, Sherlock.”

“At least it is not boring, but don’t make a habit of it.”

“Okay, little one, I won’t.” He had heard stories about the little genius, his whirlwind nature and his mad experiments. This Sherlock was nothing like the stories. He smiled in amusement as Sherlock hopped down next to his legs and leaned against them and opened a book he brought with him. “Do not fall asleep on me.”

“I won’t.”

“Sure.” He looked up and had to blink as the three Holmeses watched him with an odd look on their face. “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Er….” A sharp knock on the door interrupted them.

“The ambulance is here,” stated Violet as she went to let them in.

“Obviously,” murmured Sherlock as he turned a page in his book .

 

 

They were at the local hospital waiting for an x-ray. Mycroft sat on a bench with Greg, and Sherlock tucked himself in a chair fast asleep. The Holmes parents went to talk to the police and a social worker so they could be in charge of Greg’s case. There was a familiar footstep and Greg looked up and tensed as his father approached.

“Mycroft, go to Sherlock.”

“Why?”

“Just go, please.”

“Alright.” He stood up and walked to his brother when Peter Lestrade arrived.

“Oh, so you found the faggot of your soulmate didn’t you?”

“Please, leave us alone, Dad.”

“Why? I just arrived and I haven’t met Mycroft. What a cute little boy.” He looked down at the sleeping figure.

Mycroft yanked Sherlock out of the chair and took a few steps back while he held Sherlock up and tugged him behind his back.

“Do not fucking dare to touch them!” Greg stood between his father and the Holmes brothers.

“Why not? Is it bothering you? I’m glad your mother didn’t live long enough to see this.”

“She would have been glad to have had a chance to meet Mycroft and his family”

“No, she wouldn’t. She hated the fact that your soulmate is a poof, just as you are.”

“It is required, you know. To be gay together. To love each other no matter the gender, no matter anything. We’re meant to be.”

“Oh really? And what if one is no longer there to meant to be?” he pulled a knife out of nowhere and held it out toward Mycroft. Sherlock whimpered and held Mycroft tighter

Greg moved when his father took a step forward. At the commotion, the security arrived, the Holmes parents with the police officers shortly behind them. They separated Greg from his father. As the police led Mr. Lestrade away, Greg turned to Mycroft and held his shoulder to look him up and down.

“Are you alright? He didn’t reach you, did he? Didn’t hurt you? Mycroft, say something.”

Sherlock peeked out behind of Mycroft. “You are bleeding, Greg.”

“What?” He looked down and noticed that he had, indeed, been stabbed in his stomach. Once he saw the wound, the pain hit and Greg felt his knees buckle.’

“Right, into the surgery, young man. We can x-ray you in there.” One of the doctors called out orders and Greg was in the theatre in no time.

 

 


	4. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I can't wait 'til Sunday, so here is the last chapter :D  
> It is very short, but sweet.
> 
> Thanks again to EbonyKnight for betaing. xx
> 
> Every comments and kudos is welcomed!

Mycroft brought Greg his homework every day and they worked together on them it. To both of their surprise, Mrs. Williams paired them together again in the geography project; as she said ‘It would be a logical thing to do’. The curse of small town. Everybody knew what happened on Monday when Mycroft went back to school. Everyone in the little town knew now what Peter Lestrade had done with his only child when Greg was six. They knew the true story behind the bruised face and the broken wrist; that Greg hadn’t fallen down the stairs; that he protected his soulmate since then, even when he hadn’t met him. After the terrible events in the hospital, everyone wanted to help Greg Lestrade and the Holmes family.

 

Two weeks later, Greg was released from the hospital. During his recuperation he moved in with the Holmes family; they set up the guest room for him. With no living relatives, except his father, Greg was placed in the care of his soulmate’s family. His father was in jail awaiting for his trial.

 

 

**Several years later**

Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade was watching a short man limping towards a main road and smiled. He fished his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to his husband:

_Soulmate John: Short bloke, cane, Lauriston gardens– GL_

He didn’t have time to pocket his phone when it began to ring.

“Hi, love!”

“Are you sure about him being the right John?”

“My, he was with Sherlock, and your brother actually listened what he said. Sure, he left him here, alone on my scene, but he did bring him along.”

“What do you think of this John?”

“Well I didn’t have enough time to talk with him, but he was in the army and he is a doctor. Both can be handy around Sherlock.”

“It’s the serial suicides scene?”

“Yeah. I know you want to change the subject, love. Do not be hard on John.”

“I don’t know what you are implying, my dear.”

“I meant it, Mycroft. You can check on him, but don’t leave him in the warehouse; he is using a cane and limping.”

“I… you know me too well, Gregory.”

“Lucky for you I love you all the same.”

“Gregory!”

“I have to go, My. Be nice to John and have Anthea drive him home.”

“Alright. See you tonight, dear.”

“I’ll try to arrive before midnight. I love you.”

“I love you too.”


End file.
